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Brighton Beach

In Brighton Beach, émigrés from Russia and other former Soviet-bloc countries have carved out an enclave known as Little Odessa, whose abundance of restaurants, stores and nightclubs cater to their tastes—and yours too. Here you’ll find specialties like honey-pepper vodka, rice pilaf and Georgian flatbread filled with cheese. The boardwalk offers the relaxing pastimes of strolling and people-watching, and you can swim or sunbathe on the beach—which is often less crowded than the one in neighboring Coney Island.

Restaurants

Volna

Located right on the boardwalk in Brighton Beach, this happening spot is known for its rich dinners and delicious desserts, including borscht, Greek salads, cheese dumplings, pancakes with caviar, flounder and chicken tabaka.

Restaurants

Café Kashkar

Uighur food—a Central Asian mélange of Kazakh, Russian, Chinese, Uzbek and Turkish cooking—is, unsurprisingly, a little difficult to come by in the US, even in the culinary United Nations that is Brooklyn.

Shopping

St. Petersburg Bookstore

Shopping

Brighton Bazaar

This massive Russian-owned supermarket offers a next-best-thing-to-Russia experience for shoppers (or at least, those who can read and speak enough Russian to navigate the store): in addition to its famously massive selection of hot and cold buffets, filled with delicacies like pickled watermelon, baked apples, pickled garlic, roast sturgeon and blintzes, the store also features a bakery, deli, meat counter, produce section, fish monger and packaged Russian specialties like caviar.